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The Whitest Soup

Cauliflower Soup @ Minimally Invasive

Until I posted this picture on my Facebook page last week, I had NO idea that there are people in this world who don’t like white foods! Taste and texture issues? Sure, we all have them — I despise mint and don’t like mix-ins in my ice cream — but it never occurred to me that one color could be such a turnoff across the board. So to all of you (like my brilliant designer-friend Jenn at Seahorse Bend Press) who are white foods-phobic, I apologize in advance for today’s post.

I blame Martha Stewart for my recent obsession with cauliflower soup. Making this recipe started the ball rolling and I’ve been playing with it ever since, paring ingredients each time to get to the essence of the soup. Like potage parmentier, I […]

A New Look + The Winter Market

Winter Market @ Minimally Invasive

It’s done! Nearly eight years after starting this blog, I gave it a major design overhaul last week! And thank goodness; I just couldn’t look at that raggedly old thing any longer. My lack of anything resembling technical knowledge kept me from tackling it for all those years, but I figured I’d give it a stab, because how hard could it be with one of WordPress‘s highly-praised themes? But still, I couldn’t do it alone, so here’s a big thank you to Gil for setting up a test site and to our friend Jason, who helped me get this behemoth up and running yesterday.

There are a few new features here that I’d like to tell you about. First of all, there’s a top nav to help you get around and a proper home page with some fun features! I’ll likely add some functionality to it in the future, but for now, you can find recent blog […]

Finally!

coconut flour, almond flour

After choking down loads of dense, eggy breads, biscuits and pancakes that felt like they were expanding in my throat, I decided coconut flour just didn’t live up to its reputation as an exciting (or even acceptable) paleo/gluten-free flour. No matter what it was blended with, the results were off just enough to remind me that I was eating a substitute for the real thing. But high praise from Jenny at MFAMB for a chocolate chip cookie made with a blend of coconut and almond flours* but no eggs led me to reconsider. The recipe at Cookie & Kate sounded deceptively simple, so I went straight to the kitchen to test the vegan version** with coconut oil (which you can see above). After cooling them on the pan until they were firm enough to be handled — 10-15 minutes — I bit into a delicious, standard chocolate chip cookie that was crisp at the edges and soft in the center. I defy anyone to […]

A Good Start

Gluten-Free, Paleo

After my month of excess for the Advent Calendar, January seemed downright penitential. Spending a chunk of it shooting a new vegan cookbook certainly helped to keep me on the straight and narrow, though the gums in the store-bought cheeses kept me away from sampling many of those creations. Still, I was inspired to get back to a healthier way of eating, one that’s light on grains, heavy on vegetables and homemade yogurt, and features grass-fed/pastured meats.

What I’m saying is salads are back in vogue in my kitchen after a long absence, and the best ones hit a lot of notes for me — colorful, tart, crunchy, sweet, earthy. The Sideshow Bob you see above was inspired by the Endive-Apple Salad in Poulet, a cookbook I bought for the pictures, but find myself cracking open more and more for cooking inspiration. I changed it up a bit, adding a honeyed lemon-Dijon vinaigrette and crunchy toasted pecans to the endive-radicchio-apple-parmesan base. But this is a great starting point for any number of […]

Day 20, Paleo Banana Bread

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 20

It’s hard to tell lately, but I’m on the paleo wagon much of the time. Grass-fed/pastured meats, a boatload of vegetables, a lack of grains, and the occasional treat really is an enjoyable way for me to eat, at least until I start craving buttermilk biscuits. But not all treats are verboten. These banana bread mini-loaves are made with almond flour and a minimum of sweetener, so they’re actually pretty good for you, as desserts go. Loaded with protein, they’re satisfying and don’t cause a sugar crash an hour after indulging.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 20

And they package up real purty, too.

2012 Advent Calendar, Day 20

They have a dense, moist crumb, which is enhanced by toasting the slices slightly before eating. Adding a schmear of butter is entirely up to you.

recipe after the jump

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